Instructor wins Telly TV award

Adjunct Television Production Instructor Mauricio Quijano won TV’s Telly Award for his work directing the live broadcast of a Stanford rountable conference last year.—Photo courtesy of Stanford.

Adjunct Television Production Instructor Mauricio Quijano won the prestigious Telly Award in the TV broadcasting category for his filming of a roundtable conference on “Courting Disaster: The Fight for Oil, Water and a Healthy Planet” made last year.

For the past 29 years, the Telly Awards have honored the very best cable television commercials and programs, finest video, film productions and work created for the web. It is one of the most prestigious awards in advertising, video and film production.

The prominence of this award can be judged from the fact that Quijano’s entry was one of 14,000 submitted for the TV broadcasting category—entries from 50 states and five continents.

The second annual Roundtable at Stanford University, which took place on Oct. 13, 2007, included Stanford President John Hennessy, Journalist Carlos Watson and a panel of leading figures in international affairs, energy development, media, government and an audience of around 5,500.

The discussion covered issues such as America’s global role, the Iraq War, unrest in Middle East, terrorism and nuclear proliferation.

Quijano said of the event, “It was a live multi-camera production show produced in today’s highest standard: HDTV (High Definition Television). The show aired on the Web/iTunes as well as on PBS stations (Public Broadcasting System) at a later date.

“The most important challenge for me was to develop a vision of how the show would look and how to execute it seamlessly,” Quijano said of directing the live event. “I was working with the very best in the industry and their work was reflected in every single shot I called as a director.” He added that directing a show at this scale was like directing an orchestra, where you are creating a scene with live images and sounds. There is no room for mistake as “every shot, call and transition must be perfect.”

Quijano passionately described his vision for the project: how he strove to “find the perfect timing, that magical moment where live images and sounds I paint with tell a unique story….Many times I have a chance to tell a story, but when I am able to tell it right, it’s bliss.”

Quijano believes that “it really does not matter if you work with a small or big idea, on a low budget or a high end production. What matters is that you have always an opportunity to transcend the barriers of communication and, most importantly, you can always make it better.”

Quijano enjoyed a distinguished career in television before coming to teach at Ohlone. After beginning his career as a producer at KPIX TV, he moved on to produce specials for PBS and the CBS Morning News. He currently directs a number of live events broadcast on the Fox Sports Network, including basketball, Pac 10 football and MLS (Major League Soccer). He is also the principal television director for Stanford.